After coffee with Carrie this morning, Max and I headed into
the park and took Steven’s suggestion to hike Death Canyon Trailhead. The first 1.5 miles of the trail led us throughmeadows of wildflowers with views of the Tetons to the west, across several
narrow streams which required leaping ability, and up to a shaded overlook of beautiful
Phelps Lake.

Upon admiring the lake, we continued on in the brisk,
morning air past a lovely waterfall and climbed steadily up toward the canyonuntil we reached snow crossing the trail at approximately the 3 mile mark. While there was only a slight incline across
the snow, we opted to forgo the risk of sliding forty feet down the
mountainside and turned around as we were coming to the middle of our 3 hour
turning point anyway.

As we stood there taking in the view, we heard a loud chirp
and all of the sudden a coyote came trotting down the trail toward us. With nervousness in her voice, Max asked, “Whatdo we do?” While I thought it strange to
see the small coyote in the middle of the day and considered it might be sick,
I just said, “Step back, they generally shy away.” Thankfully, it hopped over a rock to the
downward side of the trail and continued past.
Had it been hot enough for sweat on our brow, we both would have wiped
it off with a “Whew”!

While we originally thought a bird chirped loudly at the
sight of the coyote, it appeared to be a marmot that hid itself beneath a rock
and poked its head out a few minutes later.
As we returned toward the trailhead, we ended up crossing paths with that
coyote three or four times. It seemed
scrawny with a pitiful coat. All I can
think is that it was looking for a place to die. Though another family seemed to think it was a fox…it would have been one HEALTHY fox!

After our hike we joined Carrie, Steven and their wonderful
family for lunch at Teton Thai, one of their favorite restaurants and relaxed
for the afternoon. Carrie is a long-time
childhood friend. We attended the same
prep-school and rode horses together.
She and her husband Steven, who is from Boston, lived in New York City until
shortly after their second child was born when they moved to Texas where Steven
runs a hedge fund.

Ivy, their oldest daughter is nine and is a voracious reader. Roome is seven and full of energy. He chatted up a storm and was in complete
dismay when he had heard I had never seen a moose in the wild! Gwendolyn, their youngest, while sometimes
defiant in her two-year old stage, is precious.
They all have Carrie’s beautiful eyes.

In addition to meeting Carrie and her family in Jackson, I
had also planned on visiting some of my father’s friends, Ron and Betsy, who own
a summer home in Teton Pines.Coincidentally, Ron and Betsy’s house was only six houses down the golf
course’s eleventh hole from where Carrie and Steven were staying for the next
six weeks. Ron and Betsy were hosting
their twin grandchildren who were nine, Grant and Jill.

Just before we began heading their way for a glass of wine,
Steven announced a moose and her baby were just a few blocks away!!! We made a short detour specifically for me to
snap a picture of an entire moose versus just its antlers before we joined Ron
and Betsy for a glass of wine at their lovely home. After a quick glass of wine, a crew of ten
enjoyed a scrumptious dinner at Q. What
a lovely evening and it didn’t stop there!
Carrie and Steven introduced us to a card game called Oh Heck. I loved it, and hope to play it again
soon! ETB